Telephoto: does actually work?

[DK_Chaudhary]

I have tried, by practicing to cover the main camera lens of my 2 samsung devices 1-Galaxy S9 plus & 2- Galaxy S21FE, to test if the phone actually uses the Telephoto Lens to take a photo while Zooming to 2× (S9plus) or 3× (S21fe).

To my surprise and disappointment the camera was blind if main camera was covered.

Why is the boast of these telephoto lens/sensors if only main camera is to be used.

[aravind_somannagari]

Not really....! I tried the same on my S21 FE and telephoto works on 3X and if you go behind 3X it switches to main 12MP

[sammy25]

Telephoto lens only works if the light is sufficient else it will switch for digital zoom from main lens, it's common in all brands.

[RajathSR]

mine works without any issues